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Issues of 2008
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Monument for a sculptor
In 2007 the 115th anniversary of the birthday and the 65th anniversary of the death of the sculptor and porcelain maker N.Y. Danko were celebrated. In 2006 the city of Irbit celebrated its 375th anniversary. What do the city in Sverdlovskaya Oblast and the first Soviet porcelain sculptor have in common? Irbit is the city were lies Natalya Yakovlevna Danko.
According to the order issued August 2, 1941 LFZ (Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory) was evacuated to the city of Irbit, Sverdlovskaya oblast and united with Diatomite Integrated Plant that belonged to the same department — People’s Commissariat of industrial construction materials of the USSR. Irbit Diatomic Integrated Plant also housed some other factories evacuated from the Eastern parts of our country: Kirovskii and Budyanskii FiancÊ Factories, Constantinovskii Glass Factory, Luberetzkii Factory, Kalininskii Glass Factory «Velikii Oktyabr’», Glass Factory named after Gorkii (the city of Bor, Gorkovskaya oblast), Ceramic Factory from the city of Engels. According to the instruction of L.A. Sosnin, people’s commissar of industrial construction materials of the USSR, N.I. Dikerman from Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory was appointed the vice-director of Irbit Diatomite Integrated Plant including all the working shop floors and special objects under construction. LFZ evacuation to Irbit was of big economic value as spark-plug insulators for gas-engines were made only there at those times. Manufacturing of equipment, mastering of technological processes, workers training at a new place could take too much time and it would complicate the process of gas-engines making just so necessary for military hardware. Manufacturing of porcelain ware necessary for hospitals, eating houses and front on the whole was also of considerable importance. The decision to organize a shop floor that would produce consumer goods was taken. Hearth for porcelain firing was ready only by the spring of 1942. Moulding composition was made by hand from chips and waste raw material of spark¬plug isolators that was first macerated and smashed by hand on clay slabs making this mixture plastic and then articles were formed. And the first wineglasses were moulded of ceramic slurry. The ware resulted grey and even muddily brown the mass being made of talcky insulators waste and the local material — diatomite.
Since March 25, 1942 the manufacturing of domestic porcelain was placed in operation. The tuning of the technology was realized by workers of ceramic laboratory: S.V. Shilov, P.V. Smolina and Z.V. Solovieva who worked at LFZ since 1932 and was evacuated on August 22, 1941 to Irbit Diatomite Integrated Plant to work as an experimental engineer of ceramic laboratory. It was an occasional meeting with Zoya Vasilievna Solovieva who remained working at Irbit Glass Factory after war and worked there until retirement that helped to find N.Y. Danko’s tomb. The war began. Boxes with museum exhibits of Leningrad Porcelain Factory occupied three cars of a train. Leningraders came to Irbit on September 7, 1941 at the same day when fascists invaders deprived the city of food having bombed Badaev warehouses. But Natalya Yakovlevna Danko and her younger sister — talented porcelain artist, wonderful litterateur and historiographer of Lomonosov Porcelain Factory Elena — stayed in Leningrad as they could not leave their ill mother. Only on February 27, 1942 the Danko were evacuated from Leningrad. Lorries that supplied food to the besieged city were carrying them through the Ladoghskoje Lake along «A Way of Life» to home front. They may have been dreaming of the warmth of factory stoves and the favourite work. But this way full of happiness and hopes became tragic for Danko family. At first the mother Olga Iosifovna dies and later Elena. Natalya Yakovlevna Danko hard reached the Ural city of Irbit. She had a little hope that the meeting with the factory would enforce her and she could realize her creative concepts. But she did not have a chance to step foot on city streets as she was carried to a hospital from the train car. Doctors made their best but the sufferings of the blockade winter and the grief because of her relatives’ deaths resulted more powerful. On March 18, 1942 N.Y. Danko died.
For merit for the Motherland during World War II the collective of Irbit Glass Factory was awarded by the highest reward — Red Flag of State Defense Committee that was given to the enterprise for eternal keeping. Irbit Glass Factory organized an exhibition of Danko’s works but the data on her grave site has been lost. In the beginning of 2007 the author of the article was in Irbit. Communicating with natives the author managed to find out that until recently the Zoya Vasilievna Solovieva lived in the city. Solovieva knew the sculptor well and was the only survivor participant of N.Y. Danko’s funerals. They told that Solovieva well remembered an episode of the war year 1942: «Natalya Yakovlevna was buried by a small group of Leningraders. The coffin was up-holstered by red material. The body was also covered by a red cover. A big wreath from fir leaves. When the grave was being covered I suddenly looked around and saw three noticeable birches. I thought that I would not forget them. And went there at times …». Nowadays there is a temporary obelisk put up in 1988 at Danko’s grave. It’s hard to read almost worn epigraphs. Here it seemed to us that three birches personifying two sisters and their mother near the grave are the real monument to Danko’s family. Here they are at rest from toil. P.S. This year the author and collectors are planning to fix up a monument at Danko’s tomb.
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